Texas Wesleyan University has fired its baseball coach after he told a high school player from Colorado that the team doesn't recruit from the state because players there fail drug tests.

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President Fred Slabach said Mike Jeffcoat was fired Thursday both for his remark and amid an investigation into an NAIA violation regarding players' eligibility.

Jeffcoat said in the email exchange last month that his program previously decided not to accept players from Colorado, adding, "You can thank your liberal politicians." Colorado voters in 2012 approved recreational marijuana use.

Slabach said the university "does not discriminate on the basis of the public policy of any state."

Jeffcoat pitched 10 years in the majors before becoming head coach at Texas Wesleyan in Fort Worth in 2002.